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May 25, 2016

By the time you read this post, I'll be chest deep in a three day plus binge of work related blackness, so while crankiness may not be a virtue or an excuse, I will apologize for any snarkiness that may emulate from my fingertips in the coming days elsewhere.

As per the norm, the latest episode of I Are Writer! is now available for you to peruse. And as per the norm, the upcoming snippet is expounded upon in greater detail at that blog. I have finally started the process of getting my short story anthology published, and at the same time, put my current project on the shelf and took out the manuscript that I want to get published next year to work on.

In regards to the 1st paragraph, a brief summation is required. I'd mentioned in early April that our state was hit with a slew of layoffs (current tally for FY '15/'16, 900 and counting). Contractually, most of those who were laid off get six weeks of pay, which finishes up this coming Monday thru Wednesday. Having suffered directly from being laid off in '03, I am now suffering indirectly thirteen years later. Which means I'm the one who has to process roughly 75+ monetary payouts this coming week.

So tell me again in excruciating detail, how are the Democrats the party of the working people and the Republicans are not?

On a happier note, I decided to borrow an idea from fellow blogger from Alex Cavanaugh. He also publishes roughly once week, but in his posts he touches upon anywhere from three to seven different topics at once. Sort of like a good buffet selection one might say. So I thought I would make a good attempt at doing the exact same thing.

May 11, 2016

As per the sparkly water norm, a fresh post to be had at I Are Writer!

Been going through a lot of pressure for the past few weeks, ranging from the malady featured in this video to the darkness featured in this video. Suffice to say, this has put a major damper on what to write for a post today.

I did have an idea pop into my head while I was motoring 'round town the other night: Audio Spam! Spam for your ears! But alas, that has fallen by the wayside, only because it requires just a tad more effort than I'm presently capable of performing.

And why the lack of capability you may ask?

Well...to tease this week's post on yonder Tumblr blog, I'm shooting blanks at creating a tagline/hook for my anthology "What Is Life?", and until I can come up with one, I can't move forward with the e-book. The main reason why I'm shooting blanks is that the aforementioned pressure issues is wrecking havoc on my quiet time at work.

Yes, I can actually do quiet time at work, because I have enough mundane tasks that allow me to go on autopilot and think at the same time. However, since mid-April, the budget crisis has morphed into 600+ layoffs statewide, (with more to come after July 1st), which at my place caused roughly 116 people (so far) to lose their jobs. The bulk of these losses have been at the facility that I've been doing payroll for the past 10 years at.

So when people tell you there's no collateral damage with out-of-control spending because all the politicians want to help every single illegal alien and every lazy refuse-to-work slob in the country, don't you believe it. My state is living proof of the collateral damage. Hell, my work life is living proof of the collateral damage. I got laid off 13 years ago and it me 2 years to get over it. Silver lining is me sharing it with you today. Today, I never in my wildest dreams that I would be thankful for a dead-end job, because that dead-end job has protected me from being sliced. No one can bump into the job class because it's at the top of the heap.

So the pressure at work is basically dealing with 116 people who were laid off, plus all the residual non-self inflicted headaches that come with it. Which in turn means that having a clear head to do any kind of direct and indirect work involving my writing is almost non-existent. The pressure at home, which I've explained about last week, is starting to sink in, and frankly, it terrifies me. Going blind is not a good thing to have in your future, especially when you're only 16 days shy of 51.

One of the few ways I successful deal with this pressure is to have the shortest fuse known to man when it comes to dealing with stupid. The other way is to take a few moments out of my crummy day to appreciate the finer details of life: children from the age of zero months to about 10; small animals like Chip & Dale, our resident chipmunks; the various birds that visit our front yard; the baby birds that have taken up residence in one of the birdhouses in the front yard; and the weekend in my neighborhood.

May 4, 2016

No, I'm not talking about where Spike, Snoppy's brother currently resides. Would be a nice place to visit though.

I'm talking about the big brother version of the little brother that I use on a daily basis:

That my friends, is 1/2 gauge insulin needle. The kind of needle that I perform the comedy doctor bit where I simply jab a body part and for the most part, I don't hit muscle (ouchies) or a capillary (BLOOD!).

The main reason why I bring this up is that yesterday (5/3), I started a series of shots for a condition called Diabetic Macular Edema. Apparently the laser surgery that was performed back in September didn't quite do the trick, thus the need to have these shots {I am deliberately not going into any kind of detail because quite frankly, it gives me the willies}. I'm not overly thrilled about it, but since I have but one eye to look at the world around me, it's something I gotta do.

It's a bitch getting old, and it's even more of a bitch three weeks short of b-day #51 having a body that's slowly breaking down.

If you're wondering why I'm writing such a unpleasant post {writing about a physical malady, any physical malady is uniquely unpleasant}, it's because I got a very sobering reality check from a good friend of mine. I touched base with over the past weekend and she told me what she was diagnosed with {the dreaded C}, and it just about knocked me out of my seat. I knew she was having health issues, but this final diagnosis caught me completely off-guard.

I'm glad it was caught in time, and with a couple of rounds of seriously-heavy-duty-medicine, she should be good as new. Still, to hear about a friend whose basically in your age bracket, if not your same astrological sign, becoming seriously ill, is the kind of reality check that makes you think very long and very hard about some of the choices one makes.

Some choices are unavoidable, such as living with C.M.T. (genetics), one eye (genetics), short leg (genetics), bald (genetics). Others are avoidable, such as diabetes (family history), fat (personal choice), and bad eyesight (pick a reason, any reason).

Life indeed can give you a wicked hip check into the boards when you least expect it. It's how you respond to it that shows everyone what you're actually made of.

To end this post on a upbeat note, we give you ye olden picture of past springs to make you think of better things to come: